In a computer system, a core dump consists of the recorded state of the memory of a computer system and/or program at a specific time, generally when the system and/or program has crashed or otherwise terminated abnormally. A core dump may also be referred to as a dump, memory dump, kdump, vmcore, or the like.
Core dumps are often used to assist in diagnosing and debugging errors in computer systems or programs. When a core dump is performed, working memory and other pieces of program state are usually dumped at the same time, including the processor registers, which may include a program counter and stack pointer, memory management information, and other processor and operating system flags and information.